Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Listen to Him

Luke 9:28-36 (ESV)
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. [29] And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. [30] And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, [31] who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. [32] Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. [33] And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"— not knowing what he said. [34] As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. [35] And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" [36] And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

This is my Son, My Chosen One; Listen to him! We have the transfiguration. The divinity of Jesus revealed to sinners. It is here God speaks. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that Jesus is the one who he would raise up from among us, the one to whom we should listen. This is incredible. He told us he would raise one up from among us, and that it was to him we should listen. Well he did raise him up from among us. Here is our brother, Jesus, same flesh as we have, same body, same mind, same soul, and without sin, but he dies on our behalf, us who would die. He raises him up and gives him life. He has raised him up from among us who were dead in our trespasses. Listening to him we have life. Listen to him, he has the words of eternal life. The words that say your sins are forgiven. You are forgiven, you who fear to listen to be forgiven, to step into the presence of God, you are forgiven. Yes, jesus is the one we should listen to come what may.

My Morning Devotions, or Justification for a Pastor's Blog

I decided I need, maybe to post more often. My last year in seminary, I took a life saver of a class from Prof. Pless called the “Pastor’s Devotional Life.” In this class he suggested that a pastor’s devotions ought to be creative, in that something should be created out of them.I spend every morning in prayer and devotion, study. And I normally don’t look at the day to day of the office, Sermons, Bible Studies, visits, etc. until at the earliest mid morning. I find after spending time feeding myself from the green pasture of God’s word, I have a lot more with which to feed the sheep entrusted to me. These posts on this blog will be the fruits of my morning study, my breakfast from which I get my nourishment. I don’t want this to get complicated, it's breakfast not dinner. But I am willing to share my breakfast with you. Just thoughts that I have here and there as I read through the Greek New Testament, or the Book of Concord in German, or whatever else I happen to read in my morning devotions. Expect the musings to be eclectic.